How to repurpose your video content in 6 easy ways

Script-writing, pre-production, filming, editing . . .

If you create video content, you know that high-quality, effective videos take a ton of time and resources to create.

And if you're trying to juggle a bunch of marketing channels -- video, a blog, social media, a podcast -- you might find yourself tempted to slow down to avoid burnout . 

But once you publish a video, that doesn't have to be the end. Repurposing content helps you expand your reach without starting from scratch for each new piece of content. 

In this post, we'll cover 6 ways to repurpose your video content, so you can get more bang for your buck and engagement with your content out of every video you create.

How to repurpose video content in 6 ways 

1. Create shorter video clips for social media

One simple way to repurpose your video content is to create shorter, "snackable" video clips to share on your social media pages.

Social media is the second most popular distribution channel for video marketing content. And since watching videos is one of the main activities people do across social media channels , it's a great way to get your content in front of a wider audience. 

You can repurpose video clips on social media in two ways:

1. The clips can stand on their own as bite-size videos for social

2. You can use the clips as teasers for your longer videos, then add a link to the full video in the caption

The latter lets you hook viewers with a quick clip, then entice them to click through to finish the video.

If you host your full-length videos on your own site, video clips can be a great way to get viewers onto your site, where you can then point them to related videos, products, and even lead magnets .

As an example, Trello shared a shortened version of a video showing off a fun use case for its product. The Instagram post serves as a teaser to hook viewers, and the caption tells viewers to click the link in Trello's bio for the full video.

Regardless of whether you use clips as teasers or not, shorter video clips perform better on social media than long ones. When people scroll through their social feeds, they don't take a lot of time to engage with each piece of content they see beyond a quick like, comment, or share.

Here are the ideal lengths for videos on different social media platforms:

Facebook allows videos up to 240 minutes long, but the ideal length is about 1 minute .

Instagram's time limit is 60 seconds (unless you're on IGTV, which allows up to 10 minutes of video).

Twitter has a video length limit of 2 minutes and 20 seconds, but it recommends that brands keep their videos to 6-15 seconds long. 

And that’s some sound advice. 68% of viewers will watch a video to the end if it's less than 60 seconds.

Length isn’t the only concern. Make sure that your video clips have subtitles -- not only is it best practice for accessibility, but 92% of mobile users view videos with the sound off. 

To get even more out of your video content, you can turn your video clips into animated GIFs to use in social media posts.

GIFs are one of the internet's favorite ways to express themselves. If you use social media for your small business , GIFs can be a great way to show off your product, express emotion, and humanize your brand. 

That's why GIPHY, one of the most popular GIF databases, has about 700 million daily users -- even though GIFs have been around since 1987 . 

Salesforce shared a GIF from their Leading Through Change video series to promote it on Twitter :

This GIF shows Salesforce's audience of over 516,000 followers a preview of what to expect from the Leading Through Change series and is far more engaging than a typical screenshot or plain text.  

To make sharing videos and GIFs on social even easier, check out this list of the best social media management tools . 

Cutting your videos into short clips for social media works well -- but you can also expand on your content to take it to the next level. Next up is how to make the most of your video content by packaging videos into an online course. 

2. Package related video content into an online course

If you have a bunch of videos on a similar topic, package them up into an online course. Online courses are a great way to share your expertise. 

One of the most time-consuming parts of creating an online course is planning, filming, and editing video content. When you have existing videos on the same topics -- for example, a series of how-to videos for your niche -- a lot of that work is already done.

Online courses usually have one or both of these two video types:

1. Screen recordings: A recording of your computer screen going through a slideshow or showing your students how to do something, tutorial-style.

2. Talking head videos: A recording of you (and interview subjects, if you have them) speaking to the camera.

To see both of these in action, check this out: Mackenzie Child uses a combination of screen recordings and talking head videos for his online course, Design for Developers.

Worried about the ROI for online courses? Don’t be. You can earn a significant income by selling online courses. Take Justin Jackson, for example. Justin made $190,000 within a year selling his online courses and other profitable info products . 

But videos alone might not be enough to make an online course worth your audience's money --  especially if all of the videos are already available elsewhere. Make your course more valuable by including one-on-one coaching calls and supplemental downloads.

Downloads for your online course can include:

• Checklists

• Worksheets

• “How to” guides

• Cheatsheets

• Flowcharts

• Templates

• Scripts

• Any other useful tool to help your students succeed

As you can (hopefully) see, the sky’s the limit. For more tips on creating, packaging, launching, and marketing your online course , check out our complete guide to create and sell online courses .

Or, better yet, sign up for a free Podia account and start building your online course today.

Online courses are one of our favorite tactics to repurpose your video content, but they’re not the only option. 

If you have an active blog -- or want one -- you can turn your video content into written content that will make search engines love your site. Keep reading to learn how. 

3. Turn video content into blog posts to boost SEO

You can repurpose blog content into videos, and the other way around works, too. 

Some content marketers will argue video content versus written content 'til the cows come home. Video is newer and more exciting. Blogs are classic and timeless. 

But videos and blog posts serve different purposes. Videos are great for grabbing viewers' attention and showing off products and processes, while blog posts can help drive organic search traffic to your website. 

Organic search -- mostly on Google -- is responsible for 53% of all site traffic online . 

And the first five results of any Google search account for 67.6% of all clicks .

SEO -- search engine optimization -- is how you get your site in one of those coveted top five spots. When you turn video content into search-optimized blog posts, you can drive more traffic to your site without creating blog content from scratch.

(To learn more about SEO, check out these simple SEO tips or this guide on how to do SEO for digital products .)

Amanda Nielsen of New Breed Marketing explained to Databox , “You can get tons of SEO benefit by transcribing videos. If you have the bandwidth, create a written transcription and a blog post to promote the video.”

When it comes to blog posts, length matters. A study by Orbit Media found that over half of bloggers who report "strong results" write posts longer than 2000 words. Using a transcript gives you a great start toward that word count.

You can transcribe your video files with an on-demand service like REV or an automatic transcription tool like Sonix . 

As you edit your transcript, add more resources and statistics. Those nitty-gritty details might not make for engaging video content, but help flesh out a piece of written content and provide the most value to your readers.

(For example, consider how many statistics and resources we’ve added into this blog post. Would they be in a video? No, that would be boring, but for written content, they add credibility.)

Moz does a great job of repurposing their video content into blog posts with their Whiteboard Friday video series .

The blog post "Using the Flowchart Method for Diagnosing Ranking Drops" ranks in the top 100 for over 130 keywords -- something rarely achieved by video alone. Plus, over two thousand other sites link to that post, which helps boost Moz's SEO overall. 

To optimize your blog post for SEO, look for popular keywords related to your video topic. These keywords should be words that you want your content to rank for and phrases that your target audience uses to search for questions and content in your niche.

Last but not least, don't forget the visuals. Blog posts shouldn't be endless blocks of text. Different visual content formats can help boost your blog performance :

Embed your video at the beginning or end of your blog post to boost performance. You can also use GIFs from your video as visuals in the post.  

If your video covers more than you can fit in a blog post, our next tip will be right up your alley. Enter ebooks and guides. 

4. Use video content in ebooks, guides, and other digital downloads

If you have a high-performing webinar recording, a how-to video that makes your YouTube channel metrics touch the sky, or another super in-depth video, you can repurpose it as a guide or ebook. 

Guides and ebooks are one of the top-performing written content formats : 

When you start from scratch, the ebook writing process can be pretty involved. For copywriting queen Joanna Wiebe , it looks like this :

If you don't have time to create ebooks from scratch, repurposing existing video content into an ebook can take a big chunk of the time-consuming research and outlining process off your plate. You also don’t have to worry as much about overcoming writer’s block .

To turn your video into an ebook, follow these steps:

1. Transcribe your video with a service like REV .

2. Break your transcript into chapters or sections.

3. Edit your transcript so that it flows well (like an ebook).

4. Format your ebook with a tool like Reedsy .

5. Publish your ebook as a digital product or lead magnet.

(Itching for a more detailed step-by-step process to create and sell an ebook? Check out this 11-step ebook guide .)

You can sell your ebook on your website or use it as a lead magnet.  

Business mindset coach Becky Mollenkamp offers a downloadable workbook as her lead magnet:

Becky's workbook gives her audience a sneak peek of the valuable resources and expertise she offers through her coaching. You can think of it like a snippet of her services -- just enough to whet the appetite.

Plus, the download provides value and leaves customers wanting more, two signs of a great lead magnet.

Joanna Wiebe's Copyhackers uses Where Stellar Messages Come From -- her first and most popular ebook, purchased by over 10,000 businesses -- as a lead magnet.

Joanna's ebook is “all based on actually trying things out and then learning from those,” she shared . The ebook is full of actionable advice based on real copywriting projects Joanna worked on.

Readers can take her strategies and enact them in their own marketing, or work directly with Joanna and Copy Hackers as a client. As a lead magnet, the ebook shows Joanna's potential clients that she not only talks the talk about conversion copywriting, but walks the walk. 

Of course, ebooks take time, even when you aren't starting from scratch. They also aren't nearly as shareable as visual content. Our next strategy for repurposing video content solves both of those struggles.

5. Make infographics to showcase data and processes

Infographics are another excellent form of snackable content, especially when it comes to showing data in an engaging way or explaining a complicated process. If your video covers a tricky how-to or a whole bunch of data, give it a second life as an infographic.

Infographics are almost 30 times more likely to be read than an article. And people following directions with text and illustrations do 323% better than people following directions without illustrations :

Plus, 40% of marketers said that original graphics (like infographics) helped them reach their marketing goals in 2019.

Tools like Venngage and Canva make it easy to create infographics, even if you've never used Photoshop or are a graphic design newbie. 

As an added bonus, cropped infographics make great social media content. Crop your infographics to fit on social media as individual graphics.

You can crop your graphics right in Venngage , which offers templates for every social media channel under the sun, from LinkedIn to Snapchat.

Just like the teaser video clips we covered earlier, these mini-infographics can stand alone or serve as previews of the full infographic.

Overall, infographics are a short and sweet way to get your key points across -- just like this section.

Now, let's move from visual to audio with our final content repurposing technique.

6. Transform audio from your videos into a podcast

You already have polished, edited audio content in your videos. Convert it into an audio file, then edit it into podcast format, and voila: you have a podcast episode. (More on the "how" in a minute.)

Podcasts are a great way to reach a wider audience. After all, they're one of the most popular content formats: 

• Over 23.9 million users listen to podcasts from their smartphones.

• 51% of the population has listened to an audio podcast.

• 59% of podcast listeners spend more time listening to podcasts than on social media.

Plus, unlike videos, podcasts don't demand 100% of listeners' attention. They're a multitasker's dream :

• 59% of listeners listen to podcasts while doing housework

• 52% listen while driving

• 50% listen while cooking or baking   

Podcasts work especially well for interviews with other subject matter experts in your niche. If your guest shares the episode with their followers, it opens your podcast up to a whole new audience. 

Here's how to turn your video into a podcast episode:

1. Convert your video file into an audio file. Use a tool like Kapwing or Audio Converter to convert your video into an MP3. Upload your video file, select MP3 as your conversion type, and save the new file to your computer. 

2. Edit your podcast audio: Without the visual cues from your video, some parts of your audio file might not make sense to listeners. Audio editing programs like Audacity let you cut parts out of your audio, add an intro and outro, and more.

3. Upload your podcast to a podcast app or your website: Upload your finished podcast file to a podcasting host or directly to your website. 

(Apple Podcasts,  iTunes, and Spotify don't host your podcast's audio files, so to get your podcast listed on those apps, you need to upload it to a podcasting host -- like Transistor.fm -- which will create your podcast's RSS feed.

To list your podcast on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, or Spotify, you need to submit your RSS feed URL to them, and they need to approve your submission.)

4. Promote your podcast: Share new podcast episodes on social media, with your email list, and on any other digital marketing channels. If you have guests, ask them to share with their audiences as well. 

Bonus: Once you get it up and running, you can monetize your podcast , too. 

You’ve got to love a win-win like that.

Get more out of your video content

Video content can expand your audience beyond viewers to readers, students, and listeners. When you repurpose your video content, you can access new audiences across new channels without creating each piece from scratch. 

Here's how:

• Create shorter video clips for social media. Teasers are a great way to grab scrollers' attention and drive traffic to your site.

• Package related video content into an online course. Add live coaching and downloadable content to make your course more valuable to your students. 

• Turn video content into blog posts and reap the SEO benefits. Optimize your blog posts for search and add plenty of visuals.

• Use video content to create ebooks, guides, and other digital downloads. Long videos, especially if they’re explainer videos, make for great long-form content that you can sell or use as a lead magnet.

• Transform audio from your videos into podcast episodes. If you interview guests, ask them to share the episode with their audience to reach more listeners. 

Repurposing your video content can take time, especially when you choose a high-yield strategy like an ebook or infographic. But you'll get more out of your video content, and you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Your bottom line and schedule will thank you.